Thyroid cancers reveal significant age- and gender-specific associations in papillary, medullary, and multinodularity types in Ha'il, Saudi Arabia: retrospective analysis.

BACKGROUND/

OBJECTIVES

Thyroid-cancer demands age-linked histology and nodule-architecture - factors rarely studied in papillary-thyroid-carcinoma (PTC). Severe-paucity exists in high-quality data about region-specific surveillance and epidemiology.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed 208-patient-data for prevalences and associations King Salman Specialist Hospital (2022-2025) for age, sex, first-degree-family-history, smoking, obesity (BMI ≥30 kg m-2), oral-contraceptive-pill (OCP)-use, hypertension, diabetes, nodule-pattern, and tumor-subtype. Associations tested χ2 or Fisher's-exact (α = 0.05); effect size as odds ratios (ORs, 95% CI).

RESULTS

Females dominated (70.2%) aged 30-39-years (52.4%). Histology indicated PTC (87.5%), then follicular (8.2%), medullary (3.4%), and anaplastic (1.0%). Age strongly-associated subtype (χ2 = 30.7, p < 0.001): PTC comprised 98.2% tumors <40-years but only 72.5% were ≥50-years, where follicular and medullary-cancers reached 27.5%. A positive family-history indicated medullary-carcinoma (11.4% vs 1.7%; χ2 = 8.95, p = 0.030; OR = 7.4). Smoking exclusively in men (9.7% vs 0%; χ2 = 14.5, p < 0.001). Intriguingly, the novel-finding multinodularity dominating males (43.5% vs 8.9%; χ2 = 33.6, p < 0.001) and women-non-users OCPs (32.7% vs 7.3%; χ2 = 21.5, p < 0.001) while OCP-use associated to single-nodules warrants investigation. Obesity, hypertension, and diabetes correlated with occurrence.

CONCLUSIONS

Thyroid cancer displays age-, sex- and heredity-associations: non-PTC subtypes rose with age, medullary tumors cluster in families, multinodularity predominanted male, and OCP use associated to single-nodules. These findings support age-stratified diagnostics, targeted RET-proto-oncogene-testing, and consideration of hormonal influences.